To be successful selling products and services to customers, you need to understand the difference between a feature and an advantage.
A feature is a property of a property of service. A product may come in red, green, blue or orange. The service may be delivered morning, noon or night. Those characteristics are features of the product.
As a product or service developer, you may be competing with a dozen products and they may have hundreds of features. Adding any or all...
As recently reported in the Guardian, the UK’s addiction to gadgets is translating into higher emissions and higher energy bills. While the Guardian was addressing costs in the home, the truth is that businesses the UK are falling prey to the same higher costs.
More computer screens, more tablets, more phones…every device you plug in comes with a cost that goes beyond the purchase price. Use the following checklist to make sure you’re doing your part to conserve energy and to...
Long before people actually take out their wallets to buy something, they begin making their purchase decision. Through exposure to social media and mass media they become familiar with products and services that are consistent with their identity and lifestyle.
For example, someone interested in purchasing a motorcycle will become aware of brands like Kawasaki, Harley-Davidson, Suzuki and Yamaha. They will, over time, begin to choose the brand that is most consistent with their requirements. When it is time to buy...
If you’ve ever attended a School for Startups event live, you’ve heard Doug Richard wax philosophic about the incredible importance of keeping startup costs down.
Entrepreneurs in the early, terrifying days, of starting a business often take out their credit card or open up their savings account to spend money on things that “might help” get their business off the ground.
Sometimes they spend money on office space, computers, software and advertising. Sometimes they hire programmers, graphic artists and sales professionals. Almost...
If you’ve seen the news today, you know the last of the ‘big six’ energy suppliers has put their domestic energy prices up by 15%. This price increase sounds severe, and it is, but the truth is business energy consumers see much higher price rises on a regular basis these days.
Believe it or not, small businesses are routinely seeing seeing renewal rate quotations that are up to 100% higher than their original rates
For example, Make it Cheaper, recently spoke to Haywards...
Every great artist who has ever lived has redefined the media in which they work. Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Picasso said, “Anything new, anything worth doing, can’t be recognized.”
For artists who need to find a way to eat as well as do their best work, and for those who want to support artists by helping them sell what they create, this...
MIXUP is social venture that provides opportunities for young people to showcase themselves to the entertainment industry. They offer Events for artists between the ages of 13 and 20 where they can showcase their material to capacity crowds. Through these events MIXUP also provide training in stage management, light engineering, sound engineering and house operation to 16-19 years olds that want to work behind the scenes. MIXUP also offers offer Artist Development through an advisory body that delivers information packages,...
Doug Richard, serial entrepreneur and angel investor, has announced an aggressive one-year training & mentoring program for creative professionals called School for Creative Startups. The aim of the program is to teach the critical skills that new creative businesses must have to survive and prosper, and to provide them with monthly mentoring to support them as their businesses take root and grow. Complete details about the program can be found at http://www.schoolforstartups.co.uk/school-for-creative-startups/mentor-programme/
This class is open to writers, fine artists, actors,...
When you work for School for Startups, you learn something new every day. It’s one of the best parts of the gig. Sometimes we’re running events here in the UK, sometimes we’re off to other countries to help aid economic development, sometimes we’re working with sponsors, and sometimes we’re developing curricula. That kind of task diversity results in new insights all the time.
Well, this week…
Doug Richard has said a thing to me about thirty times in the last few months and...
For anyone running a startup, there’s an art in knowing where and how to look for strategic relationships, and knowing where to put your business so it can be found. For high-tech startups, being listed at www.Crunchbase.com is as important (and maybe more important) than being listed on LinkedIn.
Unlike LinkedIn, companies that list in Crunchbase tend to provide complete information about their rounds of funding, their stock price, the names of key decision makers and often the names of investors....
